


Just Enough to Fly

by mckinlily



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 3+1 Things, Gen, Shiro for Black Paladin forever, how many times am I going to us that tag?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 20:00:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11951571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mckinlily/pseuds/mckinlily
Summary: It’s not that the Lions don’t want to work with their new paladins. It’s just each Lion has a very distinct way to communicate—and not one everyone understands.Keith, Lance, and Allura struggle to adjust to the Lion swap.





	Just Enough to Fly

**1\. Red doesn’t talk**

Red doesn’t talk at all, and Keith might think that’s that best thing that’s ever happened to him. They don’t _need_ to talk. There’s no words, no emotions, no contradicting messages to get in the way, just drive, the need to _go_ , and the guts to get there. _This_ is flying. This is bliss. For once in his life, Keith fits exactly where he is. The Red Lion moves as much with his thoughts as his hands and that feeling that got him hooked on flying in the first place—just him and a machine, the feeling of motion, split second decisions he instinctively knows the answer to—it’s found perfection in Red. They are one. Keith _is_ Red. Everything that’s in him slots into place, and Keith hasn’t ever felt this whole, this _full_ as he does when he sits in Red, leaning hard over the controls, staring down a swirl of obstacles and knowing he knows _exactly_ how to get through this.

Black doesn’t feel like Red at all. Black floods him with information, but it’s in no language he can understand. It reminds Keith of the worst parts of elementary school, back when he wanted to fit in so _desperately_ and he would _try_ but he never understood what the other kids were saying or what they wanted from him. Always wrong, wrong, wrong. The familiar disconnect is distressing. It doesn’t help that the Black Lion flies completely differently from Red. It’s bigger, heavier, and just so _present_. Keith is terribly aware at every moment of the gigantic hunk of metal he is maneuvering and how it never moves the way he wants. With every movement, it’s not enough to just work the stick; Keith has to _will_ each piece to move individually. Paws forward, back thrusters, wrangling the wings—it’s exhausting and Keith just wants the pieces to _move._ And that’s not even getting into the absolute cacophony that is the Black Lion in his head.

 Because just because Keith doesn’t understand any of it doesn’t mean the Black Lion stops talking. No, Black blasts his senses with a flood promptings and sensations that are more than Keith could possibly make sense of. It takes Keith a week to figure out that the high ringing he feels in upper left corner of his brain is the Green Lion’s shield status, and then he’s furious. What the hell does he care about the Green Lion’s status? He’s flying the _Black_ Lion. Pidge knows how to take care of herself! It only gets worse in Voltron. Sensations and status reports and precognitions burrow under his skin, nagging at him constantly but never taking a form he can _understand_. Where once Keith felt at his most powerful in Voltron, now he counts down the minutes until he can disengage and finally, _finally_ relieve even some of the pressure on his overloaded senses. Keith holds it together only through pure, stubborn will and the knowledge that _Shiro_ would never give up. Keith won’t quit on Shiro.

 But it’s exhausting. It’s overwhelming and draining. Keith would ask how Shiro ever managed it, but Keith has known for a very long time that he’ll never reach Shiro.

**2\. Blue never stops talking**

But, then again, neither does Lance. He tells her everything, about the planets he’s seen, the people he’s met, his and Hunk’s (and sometimes Pidge’s) experiments in the kitchen, Keith’s mullet, his played-up ‘crush’ on Allura, his definitely- _not_ -a-crush on Shiro. He tells her about his family, his parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents… What he likes about space. What he misses from Earth (Everything. He misses everything, and he tells Blue all of it). Lance spends hours talking, catching up Blue on every development in Voltron, spilling out all his secrets because Lance has always believed that keeping things bottled up inside is the best way to give them power over you.

And Blue talks right back. Maybe “talks” isn’t quit right—it’s thoughts and impressions, not words—but Lance understands her perfectly. When they fly, her thoughts filter through like a constant commentary. “Try this.” “Roll here.” “Move like this.” A stream of ideas and suggestions and pulses of validation. “That’s right.” “Good job.” “You’ll get it next time.” A constant back and forth, ebbing and flowing, and Lance thrives on it. His connection with his Lion is amazing! His Lion is the best! They give and they take, chattering constantly, everything carried by their mutual thrill of adventure, a shared combination of determination and optimism. The Castle might feel empty and cold, but in Blue, Lance finds the noise that means _family._

Red, however, is about as talkative as a doornail. And a low-tech, rusty Earth doornail at that. Figures Keith’s Lion is antisocial as all heck. Lance tries talking to Red—if they’re going to work together, they’ve got to _communicate_ —but all he gets back is a feeling of pressure and a sort of inch under his skin. What is he supposed to do with that? Lance need direction, darn it! Doesn’t help that Red’s controls are about as finicky as a spooked cat. The lightest touch sends him shooting in a new direction. There are no breaks. You want to slow down? Good luck with that. Lance fumbles with the controls, fighting to rein Red in, and Red is _silent._ “A little help would be good here!” he’s growled more than once while Keith yells at him over the comms, but Red only ever responds with that pressure/itch that _isn’t helping, you emotionally constipated space cat!_

Lance is getting better. He _is_. Or he hopes he is. Red won’t tell him. It’s so hard to know where he stands with no benchmarks.

**3\. Allura forgets to listen**

At first, she didn’t realize it was necessary. She had thought she knew what it would be like to fly a Lion, having listened to her father and the other paladins. She had no idea. Flying a Lion is peerless. It’s spiritual. There was no way to describe exactly what it was like to fly like the machine is also flying _you_. To feel like _part_ of the craft. That deep purr that touches behind your ribs. But though flying a Lion is amazing, it is not easy.

Allura is used to flying the Castle, a juggernaut of a spaceship, built with engineering not precisely more impressive but certainly more scientific than the Lions. Each part is known, measured, and calculated. _Allura_ knows, calculates, and controls every inch of it. Blue is not the same. There are parts of Blue that _can’t_ be known or explained. That is a small adjustment. There are others, more challenging. Allura has honed her skills to maneuver a ship big enough to house a small city with the grace of a fighter pilot. The Blue Lion is smaller, lighter. It gets buffeted around, and Allura struggles to account for the right size. More pressingly, Blue’s shields are weaker. Allura has almost gotten herself killed forgetting she doesn’t have the Castle’s particle barrier.

But the biggest adjustment of all is that Allura is not used to her craft having _ideas_. The Castle does as she commands, and Allura is a master of it. Blue wants to roll and play and experiment. Sometimes Allura gives an order, and Blue decides it does not want to go along. Allura is okay with a Lion offering _suggestions,_ but such levels of contrariness borders on insubordination. While Allura struggles to accept that she’s not the only pilot in the seat, she feels from Blue her own emotions reflected back at her, _why won’t she **listen**?_

But at the same time, the Blue Lion is quick to forgive. As soon as Allura stops fighting it, when she’s at her worst, scared, worried, inadequate, Blue reaches out to her, and she thanks all the Ancients because she _needs_ it. She’s lost so much, been stripped of so much of her support in recent weeks, and now stuck in the awkward place trying to lead a war on the bridge and fall back to support in the field, trying to work in a team where none of the pieces quite fit. Blue’s presence is a balm on her aching heart, reassurance, and promise that she is not alone.

Allura feels so alone. Sometimes it just feels like her and her pain and the universe. But Blue is there. Blue tells her not to worry so much, to let others shoulder part of the burden. And, most importantly, when Allura hurts, Blue feels it. And Blue never, ever makes her apologize for it.

So yes. Flying a Lion is amazing. Blue is amazing. But some days Allura still feels hampered in, confined, squished. Blue is just so _little_ compared to a ship that almost has its own gravitational field. And though Blue is helpful, it _is_ a lot of cooperation. Sometimes Allura just wants to be free. She misses the feel of a giant machine that she knows intimately, its every feature, limitation, capacity, having it all under her control, knowing _exactly_ what she is doing, and it’s all _her_. Facing down a Galra flag ship and hitting it head on with the Castle defenses powered by _her_ lifeforce, under _her_ direction, watching ten thousand years of engineering splutter and fail because of _her_ —

There’s nothing like it. Not even a Lion.

**+1 Black only has one thing to say**

_You **are** coming back_. The thought, command really, bobs in the back of Shiro’s mind no matter how many lightyears away he’s been thrown. His bond with Black hasn’t lessened at all. Black won’t _let_ it lessen. If there’s one creature in the universe who can meet Shiro’s tenacity, his _stubbornness_ , toe to toe, it’s Black. And boy is she up to the challenge. They may be separated, somewhat broken, and strained, but she’s dug her claws in and she won’t let go. Shiro’s right there, fighting tooth and nail to get back. To her. To his _team_.

(He failed them. He lost them. He needs to get back. What if they aren’t all right? What if they can’t form Voltron? Keith wasn’t ready. He’d promised he’d stay this time. He was supposed to _protect_ them _—_ )

 _I have them,_ interrupts Black. _I will protect them._ Her thoughts have an undercurrent of long-suffering to them (apparently Keith isn’t her favorite), but mostly she is simply certain. The warmth and the surety wash over Shiro when he’s at his weakest, when the universe seems too impossibly large for him to cross. _You **are** coming back._

“All right, Black,” Shiro says with a laugh. “I get it. I’m working on it.” Allura wasn’t kidding when she said Black was the most demanding Lion.

Oh, but it’s nice to know he’s wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're wondering, Shiro hardly notices all the things that are driving Keith crazy about the Black Lion. As a natural leader and a highly emotionally intelligent individual, Shiro is already trying to keep track of everyone, their status, and how they're doing. To Shiro, the Black Lion is immensely helpful, simply giving him more bandwidth to do what he would be doing anyway. Keith, whose instinct is to operate alone, gets overwhelmed. 
> 
> Also, maybe it's just me, but I think outside of Black, Shiro could make a pretty good Red Paladin. In his own way, he's almost as impulsive as Keith. I mean, the guy's response to fight or flight is almost 100% fight. He's got the piloting instincts to fly Red, too. The isolation would probably drive him crazy, though.
> 
> Anyway, if you've made it this far, thank you for reading! As always, comments and kudos are much appreciated :DD


End file.
